Childhood
by areuevernotgoingtofall4that
Summary: Caroline enjoys a moment of normal.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own anything. Certainly not The Vampire Diaries or The Originals.**

 **Set after both Season Finales. I finally caught up on the Originals and this, of course, is what my brain decided to focus on.**

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Caroline grinned as she looked across the yard at her kids. It was a blazing hot summer day. Even just standing here for the moment between her car and the front door of her house was starting to make sweat bead on her forehead, but she didn't mind that much.

The air was full of sounds of shouts and excited screams as three girls dressed in swimsuits ran through the sprinklers.

The three girls were actually doing normal kid stuff and with their lives, any moment of just normal- no magic, no one trying to take advantage of them, or trying to hurt them was just wonderful.

"Mom!" Too soon, she admonished herself with a sigh. Hope and Josie had just used their magic to spray water at Lizzie at the same time, causing her to fall back into the grass by the force of it. She started anxiously across the lawn, though, for a moment she wondered idly where Josie had gotten the magic from but decided that it didn't really matter. She and her sister were always borrowing magic from the other witches, though, most of the time from their best friend Hope.

She started rapidly across the wet grass to her daughter. Most of her anxiety was relieved as Lizzie pushed herself off the wet ground and onto her feet again. The nine-year old's arms wrapped around herself looking angrily at her twin and their older best friend. The two were still playing with the water, though, thankfully they weren't still using magic since they were in the front yard where any passerby could see them.

"Josie! Hope!" she said sharply causing the two of them to stop and face her. The older, Hope's, red hair gleamed in the sunlight. Not for the first time, she found herself wondering the strange circumstances in their life that meant that her daughters best friend was none other than Klaus Mikaelson's daughter and practically her daughter by now as well.

"No magic in the front yard!" she said sternly giving them both pointed looks. They both gave her puppy looks but she held her ground. "No magic in the front yard," she repeated. Lizzie gave her an annoyed and hurt look reminding her her initial worry. "You know you're not supposed to use your magic like that. You could have really hurt her," She admonished, though they were on grass, and it did look like she was fine. Still, it wasn't okay. Josie and Hope both became crestfallen at her words and then looked down at the ground.

"Sorry Lizzie," they both spoke quietly. Lizzie grinned reminding her of how resilient and forgiving children were.

"It's okay!" she said then lifted her hand and caused the water to go at them. She ran away laughing wildly. Hope and Josie looked at each other for a moment, before Hope held out her hand. Josie briefly grasped it, a red spot where their skin met, the only sign of siphoning. Then the two chased after her with grins on their face.

"No magic in the front yard!" Caroline yelled after the three of them but they weren't paying attention. Besides, if they kept going like they were they would make it the back yard and out of sight soon.

Caroline sighed and decided to just let it be. By now, the neighbors probably at least guessed what went on anyway. If there was a problem, she could just compel it away. So she just made her way up the stairs to her house and turned on the tv. If anything went wrong she knew she would hear it.


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own TVD or TO**

 **A/N: So apparently my muse won't give up on this little story. However, I'm just going to add whatever comes to me so there could be 50 more chapters or this could be the last one it just kind of depends on inspiration and interest.**

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Caroline's vampire hearing made it easy to tell where the girls were, though, they were listening to the TV loud enough she was sure she'd hear it even without her enhanced vampire senses. Caroline was making dinner, trying for once to try to be healthier and try to put a few vegetables into her girls. She heard the bell rung and put the knife down to go see who it was when she didn't hear any of the girls get up from the couch to answer the door.

Moments later she swung the door open to reveal a more and more familiar face.

"Caroline," the brunette greeted warmly standing there with the sun beaming down on her the doorway. Caroline smiled back but before she could get a word out the three girls shouted,

"Aunt Davina!" and hopped off the couch and straight at the young woman who grinned down at the three girls. Technically, Davina was only Hope's aunt, married to Kol who had been resurrected after Elena and Jeremy had killed him. Man, their whole family situation was very complicated and strange.

Davina was a very good influence on the original vampire. The two had gotten married 3 years ago and apparently, Kol had taken over trying to be the best uncle he could be without actually being able to be around Hope. Probably trying to make up for Elijah who had apparently chosen to forget like Elena had after she thought Damon had died.

Because Kol couldn't actually physically be there, he would like many of his other sibling's video chat with her often but he would also send Davina every few months for a few days. Other than Freya, Davina was the only member of her extended family that she could actually be around. Davina like Freya was a witch.

"How was France?" Hope said excitedly as she hugged her Aunt for a long moment. Davina and Kol were apparently still seeing the world like Bonnie, moving countries every few months. She sometimes still couldn't believe how her girls had pulled her again into the original vampires families lives again, just when she thought that she was out. Davina grinned at her husband's niece for a long moment but also grinned at the twins too. She wrapped an arm around Hope and another around Josie and started walking towards the living room.

"I'll tell you all about it," she paused and glanced at her. Davina knew all about her history with the original vampires including that a close friend of her's had killed Kol once and that she and Klaus had once had a thing between the two of them. She also knew quite a bit about her history with the original vampires too. But they had been part of each other's lives off and on for the past three years. The two had talked and as Caroline was almost as friendly with her as Davina was with her girls.

"Have any room for chicken casserole?" Caroline offered. Davina beamed at her.

"I've been in the car all day. I'm craving something that wasn't fried in oil," she said thankfully and continued herding the three girls into the next room. The girls immediately started bombarding the young woman with questions.

"Aunt Davina, why do you live so far away?"

"Aunt Davina, do you know any French?"

"Aunt Davina, did you bring us anything?" The last one being Lizzie causing her to roll her eyes as she headed back to the kitchen to finish dinner still listening to the girls talking with Davina.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N** : **Apparently, I finished another one of these...**

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"Is that Hope Mikaelson?" Alaric dark barely constrained angry voice came from behind her. Caroline sighed knowing that this was a conversation that was bound to happen but she had been hoping to put it off a little while longer. Caroline looked out the window to where the three girls were playing in the yard. Apparently, the three of them had hit it off at school but Alaric apparently hadn't seen them together until now.

"Hope Mikaelson is a kid. She is not her mother and she is not her father," since she was sure he was more worried about Klaus than he was about Hayley. "You're the one who recruited her," she mentioned but he wasn't willing to back down yet.

"Well yeah but they weren't supposed to," he gestured to the girls who were sitting on the ground underneath the large oak giggling. The three of them looked adorable and so happy.

"What was I supposed to say? Honey, you can only be friends with kids whose parents haven't killed lots of people? Well then, no one would able to be friends with them either. I'm a vampire. I killed when I had to and for fun when I turned my emotions off after my mom died. And you, you used to be an original vampire too before you came back," Caroline shot back, even though at first when she had first seen the three of them playing together she had had the exact same thoughts that she was sure were swirling around in Alaric's mind.

Hope, innocent or not was the daughter of Klaus Mikaelson and Hayley and they had enemies. Ones that could try to hurt her girls to get to Hope if they became close. Hope, herself, was a powerful witch from a powerful line and dark forces could be after her too, endangering her girls who had already had enough people after them. That wasn't even to mention their own complicated past with the original family. Honestly, she had the urge to pull them apart the first time she had seen them play together...until she realized how happy the three girls were together.

The girls had just lost Stefan, same as her. Hope had lost even more if what she had heard was right. She had lost her father and all but her mother and one aunt in one night. The three girls had already been so much at such a young age but looking at them giggling about something on the ground she knew would never be able to bring herself to tear them apart.

Alaric looked back at the window the angry look slowly ebbing and a few minutes later, he just looked worried.

"What if someone hurts them?" he muttered but Caroline heard him anyway.

"Hope is apparently a powerful witch, who also has Hayley a hybrid. But Lizzie and Josie are siphons and they have us and Bonnie, Damon, Elena, Matt and Jeremy. We won't let anything hurt them. Look how happy they are," she added smiling softly as the girls who gotten up from the ground and seemed to be running around playing a game that she couldn't immediately place. She saw Alaric smile softly too as he looked at their daughters play with Hope.


End file.
